From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 5/6/2005 3:58 AM
May, 03, 2005

Their life is in danger

It's already five days, every morning, the employees of the most humanitarian organization with the emblem of the most solicitous hands, indifferently pass by a starving elderly woman lying on the cold floor, embracing her two little daughters, inside the Tbilisi office of the UN Department of High Commission for Refugees, and start to perform their functions of saving those who are outside the office of their organization.

However, neither she nor journalists can arouse compassion of the international officials.

On April 18, Zina Tazurkaeva together with her three children was turned out of flat because of unpaid rent. One cannot blame the master of the house. Two months of delinquency have passed, for two months the master of the house had been treating them with sympathy. Today many families earn their living by renting their flats and live at their relatives'.

Having found herself in the street, Zina Tazurkaeva could do nothing but apply to the UNHCR Department in Tbilisi . The Tazurkaevs were not let in the door. The officials gave to understand that the organization has no concern in their problem and advised her to go to Pankisi.

“If we give refuge to you, others will also follow your example” – was their last answer.

But the mother was alarmed at the fate of her son, and she did not want to go to Akhmeta. Besides that it was not clear why she could survive in Pankisi, where there are no satisfactory conditions. And to protests the decision Tazurkaeva went on hunger-strike right in front of the UNHCR Department. Having arrived upon spot hurriedly, head of the Committee for Refugees Saipuddin Elenbayev explained the situation in more detail.

The Tazurkaevs have sought after departure for the Third World country since 2002. This was connected with the serious wounds of the elder son received in a bombardment. He has undergone thirteen operations, including trepanation of the skull. He is in need of a qualified and expensive medical treatment. It is more than they can afford, especially as the family is out of means of subsistence. So, two months ago, the family driven to despair, moved to Tbilisi , i.e. as far as possible from the gorge, where the situation is constantly uneasy. It was difficult not only for the wounded young man but also for the other members of their family not to lose nerve.

According to Saipuddi, it is not only the Tazurkaevs family that is an unsettled problem. The refugees are intending to resort to the actions and put in claims for providing them with the living wage, emigration to the Third World countries or making provisions for normal conditions of living in the territory of Georgia .

Meantime, the hunger-strike is going on under the care of the physicians from the NGO Technical Assistance of Georgia (headed by Nona Aleksandrova) and the only consolation is in the fact that no one resorts to force actions regarding the participants of the protest. Even the keepers of order treat them with understanding. But at the same time, the woman and her children are subjected to pressure on the part of the UNHCR.

After all, the matter concerns only several hundred people. Formerly, in the beginning of the second war, the number of the refugees officially registered made up 12 thousand. After the December combing-out actions there were 3, 5 thousand of them. After the invasion carried out in August by the force structures of Georgia in Pankisi, and beating the relatives of Ghelayev, who once tried to be hood to Georgia , the number of the refugees came to three thousand. Today officially are registered 2, 5 thousand refugees.

Among them are representatives of all the nations living and having residence permits in Chechnya – Kistins, Georgians, Azerbaijanis, and others. According to the participants in the action, there are only 142 Chechen families in Georgia at present, out of them 42 families are singles, i.e. actually there are 100 families, making up 486 people - 46 families (142 people) in Tbilisi, and 96 families (344 people) in Pankisi.

Of course, all these people, without distinction, have equal rights. That's the statement of a question. But at the same time, they insist on priority status for 500 Chechens to move to the Third World countries. As to everything else, there are no complaints. By the way, the same is demanded of the authorities by the rest of the refugees from Chechnya .

People tried not to expose their problems, but now, after five years of war, when their moral and material resources have exhausted, they ask for a not great help. The matter concerns one hundred families only. Even if it had been a question of three thousand families, it would not have been a great service rendered by a state with the population of four million people.

Those 500 hundred people are the ones whose existence is the main factor by means of which the shameless policy is justified in Washington , Moscow and Tbilisi . It is their fate that makes it possible to organize global games and work out geopolitical projects.

These 500 people have no roots in Georgia . They have no one to rely on. They have no relatives there. They cannot rely on the Georgian government. If we distribute them among ten states having permanent quota in the UNHCR, it will make twenty families per state. However, the mentioned organization does nothing but continues humiliation of the unfortunate people. And what is more, they even make it difficult for the refugees to apply directly to the representatives of the foreign governments.

At the same time, it is noted in the prospectus of the UNHCR that “10 out of 185 member-countries have introduced annual quota of immigrants besides the persons admitted by them from among the independently arrived ones. These countries are: USA , Canada , Australia , New Zealand , Norway , Finland , Sweden , Denmark , Switzerland and the Netherlands . The rest of the countries consider the applications of the UNHCR on an individual basis, in particular, the matter concerns the reunion of families or the presence of settled cultural relation”.

However, the emigration policy of the UNHCR stirs up serious claims.

People are driven to physical and psychological exhaustion by the actions of this organization, having established draconian conditions for the immigrants.

In order to understand what happens in Georgia , it is sufficient to get acquainted with the policy of the UNHCR Department in Russia . On 15 April, speaking at the press conference before the representatives of regional mass media, the spokesman of the mentioned organization in Russian Federation Kasilis Rochanakorn noted that an overwhelming majority of refugees had already returned to Chechnya . It should be noted at the same time that the spokesman appealed to the data of 1995 (!) However, even according to these data, the number making up above 200 thousand people has reduced to 30 thousand in Ingushetia and Dagestan . As to those who live in other regions of Russia , they are left out of account or are not mentioned deliberately. They can enjoy legal status of the refugee and remain to be”the persons displaced inside the country”.

The fact of the resounded statement testifies to the principal change of policy of the UNHCR with regard to the Chechen refugees in the area of the former Soviet Union . Now the Chechens, living in the countries of CIS make no doubts that the UN, Russia and other countries have joined in a conspiracy against the Chechens. It's their common cause to force the Chechen refugees to return back to occupied Chechnya .

Their hopes on emigration to the third world countries have also become ephemeral. This is the explanation of the fact that at the beginning of the current year the UNHCR Departments in some countries of CIS have ceased receipt of documents for emigration. Only those whose documents were registered before the end of the year 2004 can cherish hopes. However, not all of them can find themselves in the list of emigrants after filtration.

Priority will be given to the policy of extrusion of the refugees to occupied and belligerent Chechnya . The officials of the UNHCR Department in Tbilisi , by the way, do not make a secret of the abovementioned. Direct evidence of that is the fact that the UNHCR and other international organization render “not only humanitarian assistance to the Chechens who return to Chechnya , but also help them to improve their habitation in infrastructure of the Chechen Republic ”. In other words, contributes to prosecution of war, keeping Russian economy afloat.

Last year, the UNHCR allocated 9 million dollars for the genocide of the Chechen people and occupation war. 12 million will be allocated this year. Besides that the Council of Europe is intending to allocate above 20 million dollars for the initial period.

How many citizens of the CRI are beyond the limits of their Fatherland today? The number makes up 350 to 400 thousand, according to the most modest estimation. The return home of the Chechens is going on. Having returned home, after receiving the compensation (it should be noted that 50% is paid to Kadyrov's gangs and officials), many of them leave the country legally or illegally. In other words, they are not in Chechnya . At the same time, the UN and Moscow continue to manipulate the figures.

The same situation is observed with regard to the Chechen refugees in Georgia . Such situation seems to be acceptable to everyone. Anyway, that's the interpretation of the situation from which everyone derives benefit. The UN continues making policy and money at the expense of Chechen people's blood. That is why the Chechen family on hunger-strike has been given a hostile reception.

People cannot survive without means. It ' s a fact ! Therefore, the factor of financial and humanitarian assistance is the instrument used by the UNHCR to pursue the policy of “keeping” people in the Pankisi reservation called the Chechen ghetto.

According to the official of human rights organization Kazbich (893-731105), many Chechens are ready at any price to get out of the Pankisi bog; the life is intolerable there and they even agree to move to the separate camp.

On 18 June 2004 , “Spectr” published the appeal of the refugees, dealing with the situation in Pankisi. The copy of the appeal was presented to Saakashvili's wife during her visit to Pankisi on 9 June. But the situation has not changed.

According to Kazbich, the refugees want to immigrate to the third world countries for the reasons given below:

- Permanently explosive situation.

-Nervous and physical exhaustion caused by malnutrition.

-Lack of possibility to find job and earn for living.

- Instable criminogenic situation caused by the activities aimed at cutting the ground under feet of those who want to stir up ethnic conflicts.

- Proximity to the frontier of Russia .

- Lack of food, fuel, firewood and kerosene. Within a radius of several villages there is not a single bath-house.

- No possibility of giving the children proper education. Children are deprived of the joys of childhood.

- Informational blackout. No newspapers in Russian or in their native language. No electricity. No informational bulletins . No radio and TV . They do not have right to make claims on the abovementioned services, let alone the lack of financial support.

-Electricity is given in snatches.

-No ambulances and hospitals.

-People outwear old shabby clothes. No delivery of clothes has taken place for a long time.

- Georgia is unable to provide guarantees of security.

- The refugees in Pankisi are deprived of possibility to go to their relatives, and their people cannot visit them.

Five years of exile is the term, when any country grants citizenship or residence permit. However, nothing of the kind has taken place here. Period of validity of old passports expires in May.

The Chechen refugees in Georgia have no future. The UN deliberately and purposefully takes away the future of these people.

Chechens put in the following claims:

1. To grant permit to the 500 people on immigration to the third world countries. To take priority of their claim when deciding a case.

2. If departure is impossible, to make arrangements for their residence in Georgia . To work out special program for international organizations on rendering assistance to Georgia .

At the same time, the procedure of granting residence permit and citizenship should be determined. If Georgia is oriented on integration in Europe , social program should be worked out in accordance with the standards of other European states.

3. To regulate the system of orders on entry and exit visas.

4. To determine the order of reunion with the relatives for a short time or for ever.

5. To give chance of labor activity

6. To provide security blanket.

7. To reject the practice of extradition to Russia .

The Parliament of Georgia intends to consider the draft on compact residence of the refugees in Pankisi or Tbilisi . But not everything is clear. According to the information leaked in the press, priority will be given to the ethnic Kistins. Citizenship also applies to the Kistins, however, they already are the citizens of Georgia .

People are anxious about other things, such as the problem of the receipt and distribution of humanitarian aid, customs-tariff on humanitarian load, etc.

The activity of the foreign policy department of Ichkeria in Georgia is also obscure. The department is keeping aloof from the problems, having taken up the policy of non-intervention in the affairs of their compatriots abroad. People also express their discontent with respect to imposing blockade on the humanitarian aid from the Islamic countries.

People not only in Pankisi, but also in Tbilisi ask for humanitarian help.

The refugees ask permission to meet their relatives living in Baku and in the countries of Europe .

The refuges are dissatisfied with the fact that journalists do not have access to the UN Department of High Commission for Refugees. This is an alarming symptom.

People call for the international investigation to suppress the activity of the UNHCR Department in Georgia . And it should be done with the participation of the refuges.

All these questions can be considered at the round table, with the participation of all concerned side. Formerly such initiative came from the Georgian Minister for Affairs of Refugees Eter Astemirova. But the idea has not been realized.

According to many of the refugees it is the peak of lack of understanding of the policy of this organization. Georgia too is becoming a closed country for the Chechens. It takes of the Chechen refugees three months to decide the question of reunification of the mother with her children living in Baku . The lack of advocation is also one of the problems. If in Georgia the only correspondent covering the problems of the Chechen refugees is refused to obtain accreditation (the correspondent of “Kavkaz-Center” is meant), one can put a quite natural question – What is the use of the election policy of “liberty of speech”?

The so-called “international community” continues to lure Russia , allocating fabulous sums for the genocide of Chechen people. What will they say in justification of their activities when deserved punishment destroys the bloody tyranny of Moscow ? And not a single Chechen has the slightest doubt that the retribution will inevitably be accomplished.

Data Tutashkhia, Tbilisi , “Kavkaz-Center”, 23 April 2005

http://chechenpress.co.uk/english/news/2005/05/01/06.shtml